1. As stated in the First Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Guatemala,
political rights, to which every human being is entitled as a citizen with the
capacity to participate in the conduct of the country’s public affairs were
mainly based in principle on the Constitution of the Republic then in force
and were also regulated by the legal system’s body of laws in this area, which
stressed the free and democratic exercise of such rights.

2. It is also said, however, that in practice political rights were not exercised
to the fullest, and the situation was not keeping with the provisions of the
Constitution.

3. The failure to respect such rights reached its most critical level in March
1982 when, as a result of the elections at that time, all of the country’s political
sectors agreed on rejecting and challenging the results of the elections and
accused the Government of General Romeo Lucas García of electoral fraud. At
that point the military revolt occurred that brought to power General Efraín
Ríos Montt, who accuses and holds responsible deposed General Lucas García for
violating the political rights of the people of Guatemala by conducting “an
electoral process plagued with manipulations.”2

B. Political Rights Under the Repealed Constitution

1. Regardless of whether the government of deposed General Romeo Lucas García
observed or did not observe the 1965 Constitution of the Republic of Guatemala,
it cannot be ignored that the Constitution, while less than perfect, gave Guatemala
the essential characteristics of a free, sovereign, independent and organized
country—pursuant to Article 1—to guarantee its people freedom, security and
justice within the legal framework of a republican, democratic and representative
government.

2. The repealed Constitution established the division of public powers among
the legislative, executive and judicial branches, and stated that none of them
would be subordinate to the others. It established the basic political rights
of citizens, such as the right to participate in government and in the conduct
of public affairs, the right to vote, the electoral system, and the organization
and operation of political parties. These rights are included in the American
Convention on Human Rights, to which Guatemala is State party.

3. The Constitution states that all Guatemalan men and women over 18 years
of age are citizens.3 The following rights and duties are established
as inherent in citizenship: to elect and be elected; to apply for government
posts; to safeguard the freedom and effectiveness of suffrage and the integrity
of election procedures; to defend the principle of rotation and non-reelection
to the Office of the Presidency of the Republic, in any manner that it may be
exercised, as an invariable rule in the political system of the State; to be
registered on the electoral rolls; and to vote, except when this is optional.4

4. The Constitution provided that “suffrage is universal and secret, compulsory
for voters who can read and write and optional for illiterate voters.” All Guatemalans
who enjoyed the rights of citizenship and were registered on the electoral rolls
were voters. The Constitution provided that anyone preventing or attempting
to prevent citizens from registering to vote or from exercising the right of
suffrage or who compelled or tried to compel persons to vote in a particular
way; or who by any coercive means compelled or tried to compel illiterates to
go to polls should be punished in accordance with criminal law.5

5. The Constitution provided that “The State guarantees the free establishment
and operation of political parties that have democratic standards and principles;”
and “it prohibits the establishment or operation of parties or entities that
advocate the communist ideology or if their doctrinal leanings, modus operandi
or international connections threaten the sovereignty of the State or the foundations
of Guatemala’s democratic system.”6

Legally registered political parties are public law institutions, and the
law governing them determines how they should be organized.7

6. The Constitution established the institutional bases of the electoral authorities,
which are governed by the corresponding law. In that regard, the Constitution
established the electoral register and the electoral council, which have independent
functions and jurisdiction throughout the Republic.8

C. Political Rights Under the Government of General Efrain Ríos Montt

1. The coup d’etat of March 23, 1982, which deposed General Romeo Lucas García,
not only suspended political rights in Guatemala but also abrogated the laws
that recognized and regulated such rights and the political institutions through
which they are exercised, protected, oriented and implemented.

2. At the press conference on that date, General Ríos Montt announced: “None
of us are interested in participating in politics,” and stated that it was a
goal of the movement to hold elections, but he did not say when. At that time,
he also said: “Arms are for the military. So we need hardly say that differences
must be settled by vote, in the exercise of constitutional rights.”9

3. While the constitutional, republican, democratic and representative framework
remained, Guatemala from that time on was under a de facto government system
whose characteristics were set by the Fundamental Statute of Government, which
provides, with regard to political rights, that the system “has as a fundamental
basis the establishment of a national juridical structure guaranteeing that
the country would move toward a regime of constitutional legality that would
lead to a political system and a democratic government based on popular elections.”

4. The Fundamental Statute also suspended and abolished most political rights,
as can be seen in the text of Article 112, which reads as follows:

The political rights of Guatemalans are recognized, including those projected
through the political parties, but the parties are suspended by the proclamation
of the army of Guatemala to the people, dated March 23, 1982.

Later, a law will regulate the existence, activities and other functions of
political entities in accordance with Article 5 of these Statutes. Decree Law
382, of October 23, 1975, on the electoral law and political parties is repealed.

D. Political Parties

1. In its 1981 report, the Commission said that in the realities of Guatemalan
political affairs the army had had a predominant participation, to such a degree
that in the last three constitutional terms, the country’s presidents had been
military officers and that in the last two terms, all of the presidential candidates
were high ranking members of the army, including General Efrain Ríos Montt himself.

2. By express mandate of Article 112 of the Fundamental Statute, political
party activities were suspended until the recent enactment of Decree Law 32-83,
but in addition, according to repeated reports to the Commission, most of the
parties were continuously harassed and persecuted during the year in which their
activities were proscribed.

3. On November 5, 1982, the Commission received a report that the headquarters
of the Christian Democratic Party had been raided and searched, an action that
coincided with the break-in and search of the residence of the party’s Secretary
General, Vinicio Cerezo.10

4. On August 14, twenty members of the National Liberation Movement (MLN)
were arrested and accused of taking part in a plot against the Government of
General Ríos Montt. Some of them were later released because no connection at
all was found between them and the acts attributed to them.

5. In September 1982, the political parties National Liberation Movement (MLN),
the Authentic National Center (CAN), the Guatemalan Christian Democracy (DCG)
and the National Renewal Party (PNR), organized a multi-party committee following
the establishment of the Council of State, in order to stand up against alleged
political rights violations, which, as reported to the Commission, had been
committed against those parties.

6. Regarding political rights violations attributed to the regime of the deposed
General Romeo Lucas García, the political parties criticized the government
of General Ríos Montt for among other things, not having tried and punished
the officials responsible for such irregularities after the coup d’etat of March
23, 1982, in light of the fact that the alleged fraud of March 1982, aside from
having served to justify the overthrow of the General Lucas García’s government,
also resulted in the elimination of elections.

E. Legislative Measures of March 23, 1983

1. On March 23, 1983, on the first anniversary of his government, General
Efrain Ríos Montt enacted Decree Laws 30-83, 31-83, and 32-83, which constituted
the basic political laws that would govern what was termed the return to the
constitutional life of Guatemala.

2. On March 23 of that year, under the laws enacted by the government of General
Efrain Ríos Montt for opening up the political system, Decree Law 30-83 or the
Organic Law of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal was issued. Under that Decree,
the recently created agency will have autonomous duties with jurisdiction throughout
the Republic, and will not be subject to any government authority or agency.

Its duties were to ensure compliance with the laws and provisions guaranteeing
the citizens’ right of political organization and participation; to be responsible
solely for organizing the electoral process and ruling on the validity of elections
and adjudicating posts; and to make decisions on all the various situations
that occur in organizing and conducting an election.

The Electoral Supreme Court is composed of five magistrates elected by the
Supreme Court of Justice and has a president, a secretary general and an election
inspector. Its decisions and determinations must be signed by all of the magistrates.
Petitions for expansion or clarification and the remedy of amparo may be filed
against rulings of the Supreme Electoral Court.

A nominating commission draws up a written list of 20 candidates every 30
months for the posts of magistrates of the Supreme Electoral Court. The Commission
is composed of the Rector of the University of San Carlos de Guatemala, a representative
designated by the Assembly of Presidents of Professional Colleges, and the Dean
of the Political and Social Sciences Faculty of each university in the country.

The electoral organs are: the Citizens Registry, the Departmental Election
Boards, the Municipal Election Boards and the Polling Boards. The Departmental
and Municipal Election Boards are temporary organs responsible for preparing,
conducting and monitoring elections in their respective departments or municipalities.
The board members are appointed by the Supreme Electoral Court, and their seat
is the departmental capital or the municipality concerned.

The Polling Boards are responsible for installing and closing the voting tables,
reviewing election materials and documents, identifying the electors, receiving
and counting the ballots, and computing the vote. The boards are composed of
a president, a secretary, an assistant and the election authorities accredited
to each board.

3. Decree Law 31-83 also established the Citizens Registry as a technical
agency of the Supreme Electoral Court. The agency’s duty is to supervise and
monitor the registry of citizens and the issuance of personal identity cards
and to prepare and keep current the voting list. The registry will be in charge
of a director general and a secretary.

4. The Lat of Political Organizations, Decree 32-83, has also been put into
force. Its main purpose is to set the legal framework to permit and promote
democratic, free and peaceful participation of citizens in national political
activities, through various forms of organization.

The law authorizes the establishment of political parties and other organizations
that are the legitimate expression of the citizens’ expectations and ideological
conceptions. It also regulates the formation and operation of political organizations
in general, and regulates and promotes the exercise of internal democracy in
them.

Under the law, the following are political organizations: political parties,
committees for forming political parties, civic election committees and associations
with political purposes. To be recognized and operate as a political party requires
4,000 members who know how to read and write, are fully entitled to their political
rights and are registered in the citizen’s registry.

Every political party must have the following organs: nationally, a national
assembly, a national executive committee and a national secretary; at the department
level, a departmental assembly, a departmental executive committee, and a secretary
general; at the municipal level, a municipal assembly, a municipal executive
committee and a secretary general. The law establishes the terms of reference
for these organs.

F. The Future of Democracy in Guatemala

1. According to his own statements, the government of General Efrain Ríos
Montt was temporary. The Fundamental Statute itself reiterates the provisional
and temporary character of this period of government, whose function is to lead
the country toward a regime of constitutional legality through popular elections
that will install a lasting pluralist democracy aimed at the common good.

2. To that end, President Ríos Montt reported on January 6 of this year that
his government would end the state of siege on March 23. He also reaffirmed
in those declarations his decision to hold political elections, in which all
political parties, including the communist party, would participate. It was
also stated that political opening of the government would begin with the installation
of a constituent assembly, in whose election all political parties that meet
minimum requirements, including the Socialist and Communist Parties, would be
able to take part.

3. In fact, on March 23, 1983, the Decree Law establishing the state of siege
was repealed, and three political laws were enacted on the Supreme Electoral
Court, the registry of citizens and the political organization described in
this chapter.

4. Enactment of these provisions immediately caused the political parties
of Guatemala, whose activities had been suspended, to declare themselves in
permanent session to study the contents of the laws and publish their views
on them.

5. Subsequently, the Commission learned of General Oscar Humberto Mejía Víctores’
announcement that he had accelerated the political timetable established by
General Ríos Montt, which had fixed March 23, 1984 for convoking a Constituent
Assembly, July 1 of the same year for Assembly elections, installation of the
Assembly on September 15, 1984 and presidential elections to be held in 1986.
The new electoral calendar calls for Assembly elections in November 1983 which
would advance its installation as well as the presidential elections, which,
according to one official source would allow the formation of a government under
a democratically elected president by July 1, 1985.

Notes_________________

1 Article 23 of the American Convention on Human Rights states
as follows regarding political rights: Article 23. Right to Participate in Government.
1. Every citizen shall enjoy the following rights and opportunities: a. to take
part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through freely chosen representatives;
b. to vote and to be elected in genuine periodic elections, which shall be by
universal and equal suffrage and by secret ballot that guarantees the free expression
of the will of the voters; and c. to have access, under general conditions of
equality, to the public service of his country. 2. The law may regulate the
exercise of the rights and opportunities referred to in the preceding paragraph
only on the basis of age, nationality, residence, language, education, civil
and mental capacity, or sentencing by a competent court in criminal proceedings.

2 Decree Law 2-82, first clause of the preamble.

3 Article 13 of the 1965 Constitution.

4 Article 14 of the 1965 Constitution.

5 Articles 19, 20, and 21 of the Constitution. Article 22 established
penalties for individuals prohibited from participating in active politics and
government officials who violated freedom of suffrage. Article 23 provided that
from the time a candidate was nominated, he enjoyed personal immunity, except
where otherwise provided for in the law. Article 24 stated that numerically
determinable minorities should be entitled to representation in the associate
bodies chosen by popular election. Article 25 provided that the law should prescribe
rules for the exercise of suffrage “in order to guarantee its freedom and integrity,
so that it may constitute a true expression of the popular will.”

6 Article 27 of the 1965 Constitution.

7 Article 29 of the 1965 Constitution.

8 The matter of electoral authorities is covered in Chapter
VI of Title I of the 1965 Constitution.

9 Associated Press. Guatemala, March 22, 1982.

10 The text of the report, which was submitted to the Government
of Guatemala, states as follows: This afternoon, three Guatemalan army patrol
cars carrying approximately 20 uniformed soldiers entered the house of Raquel
Blandon de Cerezo. The house, which had been rented since February 1981, is
located at 7th Street 20-53, Zone 11 of Colonia Mirador, Guatemala City. Witnesses
said that nobody was home when the soldiers broke in. They added that to enter,
the soldiers rammed the door of the house with one of their patrol cars. The
soldiers then proceeded to demolish the house systematically, throwing books
and other belongings on the floor and out the window. In addition, they stole
the television set, phonograph records and other belongings of the occupants
of the house, who are terrorized and are afraid to return to their home.